Al-Zahrawi

Abū al-Qāsim al-Zahrāwī
Abū al-Qāsim al-Zahrāwī
أبو القاسم الزهراوي
	Imaginary drawing of al-Zahrawi, from a 1964 Syrian postage stamp
Born	936; Medina Azahara, al-Andalus (near present-day Córdoba, Spain)
Died	1013 (aged 76–77)
Occupation	Physician;
Known for	Pioneer of surgery; author of medical encyclopedia Kitab al-Tasrif;
Academic work
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Influenced	Abu Muhammad bin Hazm, Guy de Chauliac, Jacques Daléchamps

Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn al-'Abbās al-Zahrāwī al-Ansari^[1] (Arabic: أبو القاسم خلف بن العباس الزهراوي;‎ 936–1013), popularly known as al-Zahrawi (الزهراوي), Latinised as Albucasis or Abulcasis (from Arabic Abū al-Qāsim), was a physician, surgeon and chemist from al-Andalus.^[2] He is considered one of the greatest surgeons of the Middle Ages.^[3]^[4]

Al-Zahrawi's principal work is the Kitab al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume encyclopedia of medical practices.^[5] The surgery chapter of this work was later translated into Latin, attaining popularity and becoming the standard textbook in Europe for the next five hundred years.^[6] Al-Zahrawi's pioneering contributions to the field of surgical procedures and instruments had an enormous impact in the East and West well into the modern period, where some of his discoveries are still applied in medicine to this day.^[7] He pioneered the use of catgut for internal stitches, and his surgical instruments are still used today to treat people.

He was the first physician to identify the hereditary nature of haemophilia and describe an abdominal pregnancy, a subtype of ectopic pregnancy that in those days was a fatal affliction, and was first to discover the root cause of paralysis. He also developed surgical devices for Caesarean sections and cataract surgeries.^[7] He has also been described by some as the first ever plastic surgeon.^[8]

^ Hamarneh, Sami Khalaf; Sonnedecker, Glenn Allen (1963). A Pharmaceutical View of Abulcasis Al-Zahrāwī in Moorish Spain: With Special Reference to the "Adhān,". Brill Archive. p. 15.
^ Hamarneh, Sami Khalaf; Sonnedecker, Glenn (1963). A Pharmaceutical View of Abulcasis Al-Zahrāwī Moorish Spain: With a Special Reference to the "Adhān". Brill Archive. p. 15."Al-Zahrawi's ancestry then, one might infer, goes back to the Arabian Peninsula, to the inhabitants of "al-Madinah," the first city that accepted the message of Islam."
^
*Meri, Josef W. (2005). Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 783."The greatest surgeon of the medieval ages was Abu'l-Qasim az Zahrawi (d. 1010), a most important representative of the Andalusian school."
- Weinberg, Steven (2015). To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science. Penguin Books Limited."al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) was born in 936 near Cَrdoba, the metropolis of Andalusia, and worked there until his death in 1013. He was the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages, and highly influential in Christian Europe."
- Gerli, E. Michael (2017). Routledge Revivals: Medieval Iberia (2003): An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 12."Book 30, on surgery, was translated in the twelfth century by Gerard of Cremona (Liber Alsahravi de cirurgia) and it established the reputation of Abulcasis as the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages."
^ Krebs, Robert E. (2004). Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 95." Al-Zahrawi (930 or 963–1013 C.E.), also known as Abu-Al Quasim Khalaf ibn'Abbas al-Zahrawi, was a court physician.
^ al-Zahrāwī, Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn ʻAbbās; Studies, Gustave E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern (1973). Albucasis on surgery and instruments. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-01532-6.
^ "Abū al-Qāsim | Muslim physician and author". Encyclopedia Britannica.
^ ^a ^b Cosman, Madeleine Pelner; Jones, Linda Gale (2008). Handbook to Life in the Medieval World. Handbook to Life Series. Vol. 2. Infobase Publishing. pp. 528–530. ISBN 978-0-8160-4887-8.
^ Ahmad, Z. (2007). "Sh08Al-Zahrawi – the Father of Surgery". Anz Journal of Surgery. 77. doi:10.1111/j.1445-2197.2007.04130_8.x. S2CID 57308997.

[1] Hamarneh, Sami Khalaf; Sonnedecker, Glenn Allen (1963). A Pharmaceutical View of Abulcasis Al-Zahrāwī in Moorish Spain: With Special Reference to the "Adhān,". Brill Archive. p. 15.

[Hamarneh_1963_15-2] Hamarneh, Sami Khalaf; Sonnedecker, Glenn (1963). A Pharmaceutical View of Abulcasis Al-Zahrāwī Moorish Spain: With a Special Reference to the "Adhān". Brill Archive. p. 15."Al-Zahrawi's ancestry then, one might infer, goes back to the Arabian Peninsula, to the inhabitants of "al-Madinah," the first city that accepted the message of Islam."

[3] *Meri, Josef W. (2005). Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 783."The greatest surgeon of the medieval ages was Abu'l-Qasim az Zahrawi (d. 1010), a most important representative of the Andalusian school."
Weinberg, Steven (2015). To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science. Penguin Books Limited."al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) was born in 936 near Cَrdoba, the metropolis of Andalusia, and worked there until his death in 1013. He was the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages, and highly influential in Christian Europe."

Gerli, E. Michael (2017). Routledge Revivals: Medieval Iberia (2003): An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 12."Book 30, on surgery, was translated in the twelfth century by Gerard of Cremona (Liber Alsahravi de cirurgia) and it established the reputation of Abulcasis as the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages."

[4] Weinberg, Steven (2015). To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science. Penguin Books Limited."al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) was born in 936 near Cَrdoba, the metropolis of Andalusia, and worked there until his death in 1013. He was the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages, and highly influential in Christian Europe."

[5] Gerli, E. Michael (2017). Routledge Revivals: Medieval Iberia (2003): An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 12."Book 30, on surgery, was translated in the twelfth century by Gerard of Cremona (Liber Alsahravi de cirurgia) and it established the reputation of Abulcasis as the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages."

[4] Krebs, Robert E. (2004). Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 95." Al-Zahrawi (930 or 963–1013 C.E.), also known as Abu-Al Quasim Khalaf ibn'Abbas al-Zahrawi, was a court physician.

[al-ZahrāwīStudies1973-5] -Zahrāwī, Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn ʻAbbās; Studies, Gustave E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern (1973). Albucasis on surgery and instruments. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-01532-6.

[6] "Abū al-Qāsim | Muslim physician and author". Encyclopedia Britannica.

[MedievalLife-7] Cosman, Madeleine Pelner; Jones, Linda Gale (2008). Handbook to Life in the Medieval World. Handbook to Life Series. Vol. 2. Infobase Publishing. pp. 528–530. ISBN 978-0-8160-4887-8.

[8] Ahmad, Z. (2007). "Sh08Al-Zahrawi – the Father of Surgery". Anz Journal of Surgery. 77. doi:10.1111/j.1445-2197.2007.04130_8.x. S2CID 57308997.

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